Trump could be getting more DC arches with his pick to lead arts commission saying three are needed

President Donald Trump’s lead arts commissioner has floated the idea of installing not just one archway in Washington, D.C., but three.

Rodney Mims Cook Jr. was appointed by Trump to head up the Commission of Fine Arts panel, which is set to meet Thursday to discuss plans for the president’s 250-foot “Triumphal Arch” that would sit at one end of the Memorial Bridge near Arlington National Cemetery.

Cook told The Washington Post that three arches would help the president achieve the vision for the nation’s capital that was first dreamed up by French-American architect Pierre L’Enfant in the late 18th century.

“I think the president should do three,” Cook told the newspaper.

“He wants to complete the L’Enfant plan,” he said of Trump. “No one has.”

The urban developer declined to say whether he spoke directly to the president about his lofty plans for three arches. The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.

“It’s a wonderful gesture of President Trump to task me to try to assist him to complete the L’Enfant plan,” Cook told The Post. “We’ll see what he has on his mind on the 16th,” he said ahead of Thursday’s meeting.

L’Enfant was appointed by George Washington to design the city that would later become Washington, D.C. and had a grand vision for the Federal City, consisting of picturesque gardens, grand avenues and impressive mansions.

The designer appears to have had some influence on Trump’s real estate development plans. L’Enfant was referenced in an August 2025 executive order titled, “Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again.” The order said architecture “should uplift and beautify public spaces, inspire the human spirit, ennoble the United States, and command respect from the general public.”

Cook, the founder and president of the National Monuments Foundation in Atlanta, Georgia, is one of seven members appointed by Trump to the commission that will review the plans and possibly move to a vote Thursday.

The arch, which resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, is being challenged in federal court by veterans, who argue that it will obstruct the “symbolic and inspiring view” between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery.

The structure, intended to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States this year, would tower over the approximately 100-foot-tall Lincoln Memorial. It would be the largest federal monument built in Washington, D.C. since Franklin D. Roosevelt oversaw construction of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in 1943.

It is one of many construction projects Trump has embarked on since returning to office in a bid to leave his mark.

In October last year, construction crews tore down the historic White House East Wing to make way for Trump’s $400 million ballroom.

The privately funded ballroom has been the subject of litigation. A federal judge previously ordered that construction on his beloved project be paused until Congress authorizes it to move forward. But over the weekend, a three-judge U.S. circuit court in Washington ruled that the construction can resume until April 17, when the court revisits the issue.

Trump has rebuffed attempts to stop the construction of his ballroom by arguing that the “ballroom is clearly a vital project for the safety and security of the White House and the President, his family, and his staff,” according to a court document entered by his lawyers.